The present invention relates to combined still photography and sound recording, where a sound playback of short interval, or sound segment, is associated with a respective photograph and can be heard while viewing the finished photograph. The sound recording can be made at the time of taking the photograph, or made at a later time and then associated with the photograph, so that a dual record of one time is made.
Prior workers in this field have used various systems to combine a sound segment (short sound recording) with a still photograph, by recording sound, directly or indirectly, onto a photograph.
One approach incorporates a sound recording directly onto the photograph. An example of this approach is found in Kinoshita""s U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,996. Kinoshita records the sound segment in the form of a bar code set in a photographic print along the border of the photographic picture. The bar code is made directly on the print, using the silver salts of the film, just as is the picture itself. Because the bar code can only contain a small amount of data, the sound quality and length are quite limited. Kinoshita""s invention integrates the image recording and the audio recording mechanisms into the camera and the image and audio recordings into the film.
Also in the prior technology, movie films record sound directly onto the film, with a sound track recorded alongside the images as a strip of varying density. This is direct, unlike the bar-code recording of Kinoshita.
Another example is U.S. Pat. Re. No. 36,589 to Akamine. This patent discloses traditional silver-salt photographic prints with a magnetic strip embedded in the film. Rather than being used directly, the magnetically-recorded sound is converted into a two-dimensional pattern of light and dark that is placed on the back of the finished photograph. The user sweeps a scanner over the back of the photograph, where the audio data is printed, to hear the sound.
Kelley, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,029, shows a camera that has a built-in magnetic sound recorder including separate recording and playback transducers 30, 32 (FIG. 1). In one embodiment (FIGS. 2-3), the camera has a built-in tape recorder that transfers the sound data to a magnetic strip 102 held in a separate sound playback unit (FIG. 3). The magnetic strip 102 can be glued onto the photograph with which it is associated.
The second approach is to record the sound segments separately from the film and/or print, and to label the photograph. The information on the label is then used to select the proper sound segment from multitude of recorded sound segments.
Inoue et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,700, shows a system that uses a sound card 8 insertable into a sound card holder 9 that mounts on the camera. The camera includes a microphone and miniature speaker. A shutter release button 11 is disposed near a sound recording button 14. The sound from the sound card 8 is transferred to a diskette (FIG. 22) which is played back on a playback unit that also accepts the sound card (FIG. 21). The photographs have bar codes along the bottom edge that can electronically identify that particular photograph. When the photograph edge is inserted into the reader the playback unit plays the associated sound from the diskette. An alternative embodiment (drawing sheet 23) uses magnetic recording media mounted directly on the photograph.
Bell et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,292, shows a photograph with a memory chip embedded on the back side.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,950 to Stephenson discloses using the built-in film and frame markers of the APS (Advanced Photographic Standard), which come with the APS film, to associate the picture of one frame with the sound segment for that picture.
Anderson, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,037, discloses combining digital picture data and sound segment data.
All of these previous systems require special camera, film, and playback equipment to combine or associate the still image and the sound segment. They cannot be adapted to use with a camera of the conventional type that only takes pictures, and does not record sound.
The invention provides a system of recording and playing back sound segments, and associating those segments with particular photographs, that can be used with a conventional camera, either chemical or electronic. This allows adding sound without the expense of a completely new camera. Most people already own a conventional camera delivering high quality pictures. Also, this invention allows for sound recording and playback of sound segments and associating those segments with existing photographs.
To achieve this object, the present invention provides a sound recording unit that can be mounted on the body of a conventional camera to record sounds at the time the picture is taken, with a sound-record button that is also mountable on the camera, preferably adjacent to the shutter button of the camera. That position allows the user to depress the sound button just before, or at the same time as, the shutter button. The present invention is conveniently used with a conventional camera that has no sound recording capability.
Preferably, the sound-record button is adjacent the shutter button and in the preferred embodiment is directly above it. To adapt to different cameras, the sound-record button is preferably adjustable in position relative to the recorder, and may be independently mountable on the camera.
To maintain a record of what sound segment goes with what picture, a number of pull-off, press-on strips are provided on a card. The strips, each with a distinct bar code, are pulled off and put on the border of each finished print.
A playback device, preferably separate from the recorder, includes a loudspeaker and circuitry to play back the sound segment corresponding to the bar code of any picture, which the playback device can read.
The preferred embodiment of the invention employs a xe2x80x9csound stickxe2x80x9d that fits into both the recorder and the playback device, with an electrical connector to mate with each, and that includes a digital memory.
Alternative embodiments produce short segments of magnetic tape that can be mounted on finished photographs.
With these and other objects, advantages and features of the invention that may become hereinafter apparent, the nature of the invention may be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention, the appended claims and to the several drawings attached herein.